So how will you, a business owner or corporate manager, hire away the best and brightest for your business?

A lot depends on how you and others act during the interview process.

Take Lisa, who turned down a radio job in a great location all because of the manager conducting the interview.

The company put her up at a swanky hotel where she felt more welcome than at the company itself. Here's what she says about the hiring manager:

"He was late for all our appointments, including a tour of the radio station and city and then dinner. He seemed like he was more annoyed to have to entertain me than he was to have me there. He was also quick to tell me they were basically looking for a 'hot chick' to add to the all-male rock station."

She declined the offer.

“He seemed like he was more annoyed to have to entertain me than he was to have me there. He was also quick to tell me they were basically looking for a 'hot chick' to add to the all-male rock station.”

Lisa, a job candidate at a radio station

Beth, a mechanical engineer with credentials in high demand, flew to an East Coast company to interview with six people. The morning of the interviews, the hiring manager who was scheduled to pick her up at her hotel at 7:30 never showed up.

"At 7:45 I panicked. I ran through all the scenarios. Wrong hotel? Wrong time?" She ended up driving herself to the company in the rain during rush hour in a large, unfamiliar metro area. "I kept thinking, 'How am I going to explain any tardiness throughout the day?' "

Halfway through her first interview with the hiring manager who left her standing in the rain, he stopped and said, "I was supposed to pick you up this morning, wasn't I?"

"As if this wasn't awkward enough, now I felt compelled to relieve him of any guilt and said, 'It was no trouble, really.' " But she thought: "What kind of screwed-up company is this? They make really complicated technical machinery, yet they can't even remember to pick me up? This place is not right. I sure was not feeling the love."

She declined their offer: "I wrote them off as dysfunctional."

Sometimes an employed job-hunter's decision not to jump ship is about sticking with the familiar. That's especially true when the job seeker doesn't have the kind of information to know what he or she would be getting into.

This European worker, who asked not to named, had two recent Skype interviews with the hiring manager and her manager at an American company.

No in-person meetings were arranged. He felt a positive connection with them via Skype but says, "I would have loved to see their offices.

You're live and on the air when a job candidate visits, and you generally don't get a second take.(Photo: Getty Images)

"I believe a company's and leader's office reflects their culture. You can see people in their work environment. Do they look happy, motivated, sad? Small talk with the administrative assistant and how they welcome you can be really useful, as well. Finally, a shake of hands at the end of a meeting can create a symbolic commitment."

He received a job offer after those Skype interviews. Although he was tempted, he turned down the offer.

Part of the reason was that his current employer gave him the chance at the same time to work on a new project with a promotion and better salary.

But his company officials flew him to where he would be relocating in the United States, and also he met his new manager and some of the new team in person. That's how he got a full picture of where he would be working.

Holding interviews that are "100% virtual could lead to a lower level of commitment," he says. "Not being able to picture myself in the actual work environment probably impacted my decision."

So just remember that while you, the employer, are watching for clues to find the best and brightest employees, would-be workers are doing the same, wondering: "Are you the best company to work for?"